IBM is one of many companies investing in technology for Smarter Cities in the Future. Three weeks ago I posted Andy Stanford-Clark’s first of a three part video blog about The Chale Project aiming to make the Isle of Wight UK’s first sustainable region. In the first video blog he talked about using home automation technologies in his home.

Here’s part 2 about monitoring your sustainable house after for example implementing an air source heat pump..

.. and part 3 is about electrical vehicles, storing sustainable energy and federating small smart regions into one big smart grid after which to take over the world!

We’re living in exciting times.. what will our world look like in 5, 10, 20 years time..?

The Future will tell.. Good to know some of us already invest and work hard on making the world a more sustainable place.

Also watch the first of a series of three video blogs by Andy Stanford-Clark, IBM’s Chief Technology Officer of Smarter Energy. He explains his personal mission to reduce the energy consumption in his home. He does this by experimenting with home automation technologies.

He may inspire you to try to do the same. I’m curious what the future beholds, for these initiatives aim to make the Isle of Wight UK’s first sustainable region. We will post Andy’s next diary about The Chale Project on this blog, stay tuned!

A refreshing and back to basic way to experience a city is by urban camping, an emerging trend of spending a night or more outdoor in an urban environment. It is a lowbudget and unique way of experiencing a city.

Import.Export Architecture (IEA) is a network of two architects Oscar Rommens and Joris van Reusel from Antwerp, Belgium. They investigated new urban opportunities and they came up with an URBAN CAMPING design. Last weekend it was shown during the design event INSIDE DESIGN in Amsterdam. Read the URBAN CAMPING design principals and watch the impressive installation being set-up here.

Babel is an animated epic fresco, which tells the story of two characters, their personal lives against the backdrop of China’s historical progression, from rural to urban. Produced by Studio Hdk Productions based in Paris.

At one point the main character travels by train, the landscape transforms from a medieval rural village setting to where he arrives, in the future.

Explosive innovation and adoption of computing, mobile devices, and rich sources of data are changing the cities in which we live, work, and play. A digital landscape overlays our physical world and is expanding to offer ever-richer experiences that complement, and in emerging cases, replace the physical experience.

As the ‘smart city’ model of infrastructure provision and management becomes commonplace engineers, coders, designers, politicians and citizens are faced with many challenges. One main controversy is adressed by questions about “public and private ownership of space, both in the cloud and on the ground.”

Cleveland, Ohio was once the 7th biggest city in the United States, it’s population peaked with 914,808. In 1949 Cleveland was named an All-America City for the first time. The city’s prime geographic location as transportation hub on the Great Lakes has played an important role in its development as a commercial center. Picture below: Holiday Traffic on Euclid Avenue & Huron Road. Cleveland, Ohio. December 1949, PlayhouseSquare Archives.

By the 1960s, the economy slowed, and residents sought new housing in the suburbs. Today the city is dealing with a fast declining population and land is left empty. Comedian Mike Polk, made this funny video about the city of Cleveland today.

The nickname for Cleveland, The Forest City, unveils the river valley was once a heavily forested environment. A group of architects developed a plan to transform the city into a progressive city once again.

The idea is to develop the land so that agriculture and developmental activities go side by side. The land will be used for a variety of things right from agriculture purpose to clean industries to recreation for the inhabitants. Special emphasis has been being given on conservation and recycling of water, so that the water table may never go down in future. Watch this inspiring and clear overview on the planned changes for the resurrection of Cleveland: